Chapter Four

Mark grinned at the various disgusted glances being hurled his way from the track team. He clutched the chain link fence, leaning into it and peered through, his dark overgrown bangs mussed against the diamonds. Self absorbed whores, the lot of them, he thought. As if they were worth any of his time.

Most of the women's athletics blocks were lumped together so they could enjoy the fields in relative privacy, but there was nothing stopping the male student body from wandering up and watching, so long as they could get a free period. Mark was nothing if not terribly persuasive, and he was damned proud of it. His silver tongue always got him out of classes that bored him with relative ease. But right now, he noted with some urgency, he needed to stay focused. He was on a mission.

He continued to scan the field, stopping on every blonde and dismissing them one by one with only minimal distractions of a worthy ass here and there. Gym shorts and yoga pants were a glorious sight to behold, but the particular girl he was here to find was proving to be as elusive as ever. When he was certain she wasn't running late again, or somehow hiding among the flock, he took off back towards the main campus in pursuit. Mark had long since learned her entire schedule by heart and wouldn't give up the chase that easily. Truth be told, he loved it when she gave him a challenge.

A few minutes passed and Mark arrived at the block he was looking for, and with nary a thought for those inside, flung open the door to the nurses lounge and burst in in a huff. Just as he had suspected, there she was, curled up on the second bed with a book, looking as positively radiant as ever. Rachel McAddams, the one and only, eldest daughter of the esteemed Jacob McAddams, the self-made success story, Editor and Chief of the Daily Bugle. Their family had a long spanning legacy of information brokerage in their veins. Even her elder brother had gone on to become a popular webcaster and now sported a large cult following at the tender age of twenty.

Rachel's perfect golden hair flowed free around her shoulders and caught ever twinkle of the soft afternoon light filtering through the nurses curtains. The nurse looked on with a stern look but he couldn't be bothered to give the old hag the time of day whilst Rachel was there stealing the breath from his lungs.

Oh, right, he had ran all the way here. There was that, too.

"Oh great." She muttered with disdain. Oh speak again bright angel. "What do you want now Mark?" Her lavender gaze struck him to his core, his very name on her lips was a siren song in his heart, and it burned red hot like the luscious cherry bomb glaze on her lips. He'd pinched one off of her once before when she wasn't looking, so he knew.

"I've got a juicy one this time, I swear." Mark grinned ear to ear, proud of himself. "Rumor has it, we got a transfer student in today, and get this. She made a total fool of herself- and Felix Klein- within the first five minutes of Second." He waited for her then, to ask for more details, to finally be impressed by his work. But instead her face visibly paled, and her eyes flickered as if she was fighting an impulse.

"Mark.."

"Didn't you hear me? Felix Klein! This is the break we've been looking for!"

"Mark. Shut up."

"-and I didn't even tell you the best part yet. Luke Johnson was seen carrying her during lunch."

"MARK."

"It's fine, I handled everything this time Rach. I've got interviews with several students that saw it first hand. We can run the story tomorrow if we-"

"MARK. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WILL YOU PLEASE STOP TALKING."

He stopped, flabbergasted. He'd never managed to get that much of a rise out of her before and this time, he wasn't even trying. She should be excited, this story was going to be a hit. A sell out for the next issue for sure, so why-? Even the nurse was shaking her head at him. What was happening here.

"Mark," Rachel said sharply as she got up to open the curtain beyond her bed a little wider. "Allow me to introduce our new classmate. California Darby." She turned and looked over her shoulder at the girl covered in bandages in the next bed over. "Cali, right?" She nodded weakly and just stared at him, her eyes glazed like she was about to cry. He hadn't seen her there at all, and from the angle of the curtain, he guessed that they had only kept it open enough to visit without the obstruction between their faces.

"Now, if you'll excuse us.. " Rachel pushed him out of the nurses lounge and whispered hotly, "I've got this. Now get out of here before you mess this up any further," and she shut the door in his face before he could protest.

"Sorry about him." Rachel said with a sigh as she sat back down on the edge of her bed. She noticed that he had left his school-issued Nikon Fm2 on her bed, subtly hinting that she should get a picture of the poor girl draped in bandages. A clever tactic to him, no doubt, but the uneasy looks Cali was giving it were to be expected. She might never gain her trust back after this. Thanks, Mark.

"Don't worry about that sweetie," she said while carefully tucking the camera away next to her own, deep in her flower embroidered satchel. She briefly eyed her mothers old Leica M4, still a very expensive commodity for all the best reasons, and gave the notion another fleeting thought before closing the flap on both. The uncertain look in Cali's eyes told her she had made the right call, despite the gnawing urge she felt to report on the girl's tragic first day at Thompson High.

"Mark is a buffoon, but he means well. I think." She stopped and considered. "Perhaps there's a way we can turn our meeting into something positive. For you, I mean." She added sheepishly, embarrassed by her former thoughts to make the poor girls day even worse. "How would you feel about giving me an interview to run in the school paper?" She held up a finger, asking Cali to let her finish. "Not about how you ended up in here, but about who you are, as a person. It's okay to say no, but you're starting senior year with a class full of students that know each other pretty well by this point. I think it would help everyone warm up to you a little more quickly if they knew something about you." She paused, smiling gently at the girl with the colorful hair as she mulled it over. From this side, the girls hair was a wavy mess of aqua blues with kelly green undertones, long bangs and layers throughout, none falling below her jaw, but she had caught a glimpse of the other side where Cali kept it cut short, the darker ocean blues more prevalent in the cinnamon-roll curls she thought must be natural.

"You won't ask me about what happened?"

"Nope."

"And you still want to interview me?"

"Yep. Having a new girl on campus is still more exciting than having to report on another lame fundraiser."

Nurse Janice quirked an eyebrow at her just then, as Rachel remembered that the next fundraiser was meant to help purchase updated supplies for the medical classrooms. "No offense," She said, her cheeks turning a light pink.

"I'm in." Cali said with a smile that surprised her. The whole time they had been chatting- before Mark interrupted- she hadn't seen her smile even once. But the way she wore it was so easy. Rachel was glad to see that she was finally brightening up. Maybe the day she'd been having had only managed to damper an otherwise sunny disposition. She was so cute when she smiled. Rachel couldn't wait to see more of it.

"Fantastic. Before we get started, you should know, I will need a picture to run along side it." She witnessed her dimming expression and hastened to add, "It doesn't have to be of you. What about something that you hold dear? Something like, a statement piece." Cali looked at the ceiling thoughtfully, "That would be fine. Let me think."

A few moments later, she wiggled her way into a sitting position and pulled her backpack up onto the bed, digging through one of the smaller outside pockets. Rachel squeed with glee when she unwrapped the tightly folded fabric bundle. "Will this do?"

"Oh it's absolutely perfect." she clapped her hands together excitedly and pulled out her journal. "Let's get started."

* * * * *

"Alright, I think that about covers it." Rachel said, beaming as she tucked away her journal and slid her satchel over her head. She pulled out her camera, looking around the room. "How about.. right here? Nurse Janice, would you mind if we-?"

"Not at all dearie." The weary woman said with a smile. Her hair was mostly dark shades of grey with whiter strands near the front. The few remaining tints of a dusty brown looked nothing like a picture of the vibrant mahogany haired young nurse hanging on the wall, circa 1995. Her smile, once beaming with joy and life was now a sad thing, like she had lost her way over the years and was nothing more than a husk of her former self.

"Thank you." Rachel said hurriedly, positioning the small glass turtle on the window sill. The mosaic of bright spots on it's shell caught and reflected every beam of light onto the walls in a wash of beautiful Easter colors. It was the perfect piece to capture the story of the girl from California, who loved marine animals and wore colorful, trendy plastic garments even as the leaves fell outside. Rachel had learned a lot about the girl in their short time, and this adorable little sea turtle was the perfect way to sum up her story. Everyone was going to love her, she thought, as she beamed back at Cali on the bed. A flash, and an extra click for good measure, and she handed her back the mosaic sea turtle with care, packing away her M4.

"Well Cali, it was a pleasure to meet you. 4th period should be ending, so I guess I'll-"

Her words died off as the door slid open behind her. There stood Piper, in all of her five foot nine glory, giving her the once over before dismissing her as nothing. She glanced around the room and looked completely taken aback when she spotted Cali, awake on the bed, and then looked back to her with alarm. She was putting it together, Rachel thought, as she unconsciously gripped her satchel closer. She must not have counted on Cali being awake yet. If there were any doubt in her mind about what had transpired in that classroom earlier, it had evaporated entirely.

Rachel looked down at the floor with shame. She had been outside that classroom, had known something was up, and had ultimately let Piper scare her off before. Now she knew what it was that she could have prevented, she thought with a glance at Cali's tinted bandages, in gory detail. Could she really leave her alone with Piper, after what Klein had already done? She looked briefly at Nurse Janice, but was unsurprised to see her back turned to the lot of them. Rachel had had her suspicions, and this all but proved them right. The nurse must be on Klein's payroll, same as Piper. But her camera, she thought with a grimace, her mothers camera was on her, and Piper was known to destroy any evidence that might damn her. Piper glared down at her, having noticed the way Rachel's whole body was now between her and the satchel, and she panicked.

Fight or flight gave Rachel swift feet as she bolted out the door and into the hallway, despite the bandage on her foot. It was a hoax anyways, to get out of gym, a trick the nurse was kind enough to let her employ ever more frequently. Tears streamed down her face as she ran, knowing that her own well being had once again prevailed over stopping the two of them. Rachel didn't want to have to hurt anyone, and it killed her to abandon Cali when she had already been through so much at their hands. Maybe she would prove to be too soft for this job. But Felix Klein and Piper Pluim were enemy number one, and she'd be damned if she was going to let them stop her from reporting on everything they had been doing at Thompson High.

She would get them for this, she swore angrily, unsure if she was more mad at them, or herself. Sooner or later they were going to pay. As long as she could keep her head down long enough, she would get them back tenfold for everything they had done. And to get the evidence she needed, Cali- she thought, as she finally slid down the empty locker room wall, hugging her legs close as she let it all out, might have to stay caught in the crossfire.